Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-10
CRIMINALITIES.
Another Fire in China
town.
OFFICER ARGUELLO SHOT.
Scenes and Incidents at the. Fire
Thieves Abroad in Day.
light.

Yesterday morning shortly before
twelve O'Clock a fire broke out in
Chinatown and for time it appeared
as if all of the old rookeries on Niger
alley would be destroyed. The fire
started in one of the small buildings
in the rear of the stores OH Niger
alley and a few seconds after there
was the widest excitement among the
celestials, who knew the infammable
nature of the buildings. They rushed
about without accomplishing any
thing, and after the firemen arrived
on the scene were greatly in the road
The alarm was turned in from "3S's"
Engine House buta few steps away,
and that engine was the first on the
scene. By the time the other part of
the department arrived it became ap-
parent that all of the buildings at the
north end of the alley would be des-
troyed and there was a fair chance
that some of those to the south would
be consumed. The smoke and the
running of the Chinese together with
the ringing of the fire bell attracted
the attention OF myriads OF people who
focked to the vicinity and blocked the
way of the firemen. Among this
crowd were many who were not as
honest as they should have been and
the Chinese storekeepers had their
hands full in watching their goods to
see that none were stolen. There
were also many Chinese thieves about
watching opportunities to carry off
articles and frequently these as we'll
as the whites dashed into the burning
buildings and came out with armsful
of merchandise. One Chinaman ap-
parently gone mad, appeared in front
of his store and commenced to fire his
revolver into the crowd. He even at
tackled Officer Arguello who was doing
all in his power to prevent the depre-
datiOns of the thieves. He fred two
shots at the officer, one of
which inflicted a scalp wound
Officer Arguello however refrained
from shooting in return but disarmed
the celestial and took him to the po-
lice station. In addition to the gen.
eral excitement attendant upon the
scene, there appeared to be large
quantity of fire works, bombs, etc.
stored in one of the buildings and for
a time the explosion of these articles
kept the crowd back. The Chinese
however, persisted in entering the
buildings and in trying to save their
effects and they worked hard without
effecting much. 1t was not until
about half past one o'clock that the
fire was extingnished and at that time
it was observed that the only buildings
which had suffered were those of Mrs.
Bigelow on which there was no insur-
ance. Neither was there any insur-
ance on the goods Of the Chinese and
their losses must have been quite
heavy. The firm OCCUPYING the corner
had stock valued at $4,000 on hand
and this was entirely destroyed
by fire and water. Altogether the
losses exclusive of the buildings which
were not worth much, footed up to
about SIS 900 or 100000. The Chi
nese feel this loss keenly, especially
as they could not obtain insurance
policies. 1t is only short time since
that the buildings directly across the
street were destroyed by fire. Those
have been replaced by brick block
now and it is probable that brick will
be used in the construction of the
buildings which will replace those
burned yesterday. The cause OF the
fire is unknown but it is supposed that
some Cninaman either set it afire ac-
cidentally or on purpose. 1t is the
habit of the Chinese to build fires in
tin cans and holes and it was prob
ably one of these that set fire to the
flimsy woodwork. The Chinese are
investigating the matter, however
and the result will probably
be known to-day. Yesterday
afternoon the ruins were visited by
thousands of people and the Cinnamon
were busy raking over the ashes or in
carrying away the articles which had
not been entirely removed. The odor
of Chinatown is not very attractive at
any time, but the stencil after the fire
was almost unbearable. The Board
of Health will probably order the
ruins cleared as soon as possible to
relieve the citizens and people who
are forced to pass by that neighbor-
hood.